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It is still so darn hot, and even in the cool AC I have been somewhat uninspired to cook this last week. Perhaps its the heat, or the heaviness of some of the Southern Food I have been enjoying lately but I have been craving spicy foods. This slaw is so refreshing, that even in the suffocating summer heat it makes my mouth water.

This salad highlights a number of summer crops, jalapeños, radishes, and small summer cabbages all play a starring role here. The combination of jalapeños and limes is truly brilliant in this application and it provides a nice contrast to the creamy slaws commonly served down south. The slaw is dressed with an extremely simple dressing of olive oil and lime, I like to let this sit on the cabbage for 10 minutes or so before serving as it will begin to soften the cabbage’s harsh crunchiness and give it a smooth and silky mouth feel.

This Slaw is so simple to prepare, it takes a bit of time to cut the veggies but the procedure is very straightforward. If you have a mandolin this will make slicing the veg super easy, but if not, never you fear, we don’t use one either! Make sure you use a very sharp knife and try to slice the cabbage, radish, onion, and carrots into almost paper-thin slices. Perhaps its the Engineer’s penchant for detail and precision but Dustin is a pro at slicing up the produce that goes into this dish. As he seems to enjoy it I am happy to avoid purchasing yet another kitchen gadget (mandolin) and let him go to town slicing and dicing away!

The cabbage, carrot, radish, and celery can be sliced up to a day in advance and stored in a zip lock bag in the fridge until you are ready to use them. I like to macerate the jalapeño for a while in the lime juice and olive oil dressing so that the spicy flavor infuses into the entire dressing. I am pretty confident that the salad would be great with the addition of a little bit of minced fresh oregano – if you have it try it out! This is a phenomenal side dish for burgers and fresh summer tacos.

In a separate bowl mix the lime juice with the olive oil and jalapenos, add some salt and pepper to taste.

About 10 minutes before you plan on serving the dish pour dressing onto the slaw, don’t pour it all on at once as you may have more than you need. Mix slaw, taste for seasoning and add salt and pepper as needed. Let sit for 10 mins and taste again, add the remaining dressing if needed and take the opportunity to adjust seasoning again. Serve and enjoy this refreshing treat!

Like this:

I’m making an effort to do the things I have been hoping for and planning for and somehow putting off. Who better to make my dreams reality than, well, me.

In approximately one month my boyfriend, Dustin, and I are packing our belongings into a moving truck and traveling down to Nashville, TN to begin a new chapter of our lives there. The two of us share a number of common passions, we are both hopelessly addicted to the amazing high of rock climbing. We both appreciate the arts (Dustin is, in fact, a photographer by degree) and are lovers of good music. But above all we are both passionate about good food – and get really excited about top notch locally grown produce, and sustainably caught/humanely raised meats and seafood.

I have been inspired by so many fantastic food blogs out on the web, Smitten Kitchen, 101 Cookbooks, Sprouted Kitchen, the Sassy Radish, and the Home Sick Texan are among some of my favorite online reads. I also own a somewhat embarrassingly large collection of cookbooks. My cooking is certainly influenced by global cuisine but I find myself consistently drawn to new British cuisine, Jamie Oliver and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall have both deeply influenced my cooking style. I have also drawn influence from my own upbringing in an oddly mish-mashed multicultural (Indian-Irish-Italian) household. And all of this, couples with an irrepressible urge to create dishes that will bring together and nourish my loved ones has brought me here, to my first, (and hopefully most awkward) blog posting on this new site. This is a new sort of experiment for me and I greatly appreciate feedback and comments from readers!

As my blog title alludes to I have somewhat of a penchant for good produce and not just the pretty summer tomatoes and ruby red strawberries I love all fruits and veggies and hope to showcase them all in this blog. I will start with one of my all time favorites – Cabbage! Cabbage is such a wonderfully versatile veggie, it can be eaten raw as part of a creamy slaw or zingy salad, steamed or boiled with butter, fermented as Kim chi, or salted as Sauerkraut. However, versatile tho the cabbage may be I will admit I have a soft spot for one preparation which is so delectable it is sure to turn heads (haha)! In this recipe the cabbage is sauteed in carefully rendered bacon fat and dressed with a zingy herb and mustard vinaigrette. So without further ado, I present to you “The Most Delicious Way to Eat Cabbage – EVER!”

The Most Delicious Way to Eat Cabbage – EVER!

Don’t be afraid by the amount of cabbage in this recipe! It will cook down considerably. Also – don’t skimp on the quality of the bacon and mustard on this recipe – these are the make or break factors that bring the wow factor to this simple recipe. I typically use either a grainy Grey Poupon or Maille brand mustard. For bacon I look for a thick cut bacon, uncured if possible. Trader Joes makes a great version of this.

Special thanks to Julie Zlogar for teaching me this recipe in a teeny tiny kitchen on a camping trip to Kentucky last summer!

For the Cabbage

6 Rashers Smokey Thick Cut Bacon Cut into ½ inch Strips

2 Heads of Cabbage

For the Dressing

3 Cloves Garlic Minced

1 TBSP Good Grainy Dijon Mustard

1 TBSP Dill Chopped

1 TSP Honey

1 TSP Thyme Chopped

¼ Cup Olive Oil (less if bacon renders a lot of oil)

1 TBSP Cider Vinegar

Salt and Pepper

In a large broad based pot cook Bacon over medium heat until fat has rendered and bacon is just crisp. Remove from pot with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Remove pot from heat – set aside – do not wash

Core cabbage and cut into ½ inch wide strips (I usually cut length wise into long strips and cut the long strips roughly in half) Wash and dry in salad spinner.

Sautee Cabbage in oil rendered from bacon until just cooked. You may need to add the cabbage in batches depending on the size of the pot. It is ok if some cabbage cooks longer than the rest.

Remove Cabbage from heat. Remove from pot with slotted spoon.

Combine vinaigrette ingredients in separate bowl. Taste! It should be fairly balanced vinaigrette with a strong punch of mustard. Herb amounts can be adjusted according to taste. Parsley would work well in place of the dill. Add salt and pepper to taste using more pepper that you would normally in vinaigrette.

Mix reserved bacon into cabbage. Add vinaigrette, a little at a time, tasting as you go. Add salt and pepper as needed.